Digital Player: John Vail

Biggest Industry Challenge? "Companies like ours need better research and planning tools to evaluate online advertising options as part of the overall media plan. Progress has been made ... but not fast enough."

Biggest Marketing Breakthrough: "For our summer 2003 promotion, `Pepsi Play for a Billion,' we signed up nearly 200,000 consumers online in the first 24 hours."

What's On Tap For The Pepsi/Apple iTunes Alliance? "I am specifically working on online advertising to complement other new advertising in the works, all kicking off on Super Bowl Sunday."

Learned Anything New At A Recent Conference? "At the iMedia Brand Summit I saw some pretty vocal advertisers and publishers sharing a host of opinions on the subject of an online `upfront' for 2004. "

What Gets People To Your Site And Keeps Them There? "Consumers want to see our advertising, especially the longer 45-second [TV spots], :60s, and :90s we have aired in the Super Bowl or Academy Awards."

How Do You Use The Web At Home? " We use it for everything from research to applying to college. ... These days, using my iPod and downloading music from iTunes has been great for my boys and myself."